Dreaming in Darvin
The original three party members, Kazuma, Gael and Hilda were all brought together by a mysterious street performer who somehow singled them out and left personalized help wanted signs in their rooms/near their rocks. The same night they all had the same vivid dream, the first of several that would occur throughout their quest. Part 1 It’s dark, pitch black at first, and while your vision slowly returns, your environment never quite illuminates. Anything more than a few feet in either direction becomes hazy and unfocused, and what you can see is unremarkable. A solid, cobbled brick wall to your right, packed earth beneath your feet, dust settling in the air. Beyond that, it doesn’t take but a second for you come to the unsettling realization that you are not alone. Something or someone is taking deep, ragged breaths nearby, as if they’ve just finished a marathon. Their footsteps shuffle closer and you can just make out the shadow of a tall, imposing figure. “Where is it… it’s got to be here. Has to.” You stand almost paralyzed while they knock things about, struggling to see with any clarity, when a large crash echoes through the room. They curse aloud and grab your hand and the two of you are running, blindly, through the darkness. Your heart plummets, knowing somehow that you don’t have what you came for, and that it’s going to be bad, but even actively grasping at the thought of what it might be, it escapes you. And more importantly now, you have to escape it. Your companion is gone now and you’re just barreling through the dark, large shapes rushing past, disappearing in the peripherals of your limited vision as quickly as they came. Your breath suddenly hitches, frozen in your throat, and you can’t inhale and you can’t exhale. You try to keep running, and for a gut-wrenching moment, you do. Then you fall. At this point, players woke up gasping for air to find a colorful flyer for Tigo's Festival of Stars drifting to the ground in close proximity to their sleeping forms. Pinned to the ad was a card advertising the 'Nefarious Nezari', with the words “help wanted, Dusty Dog, sunset” scrawled across its surface in dark ink. Part 2 At this time, the party had stopped in Namwich to rest, stock supplies, and complete a couple side quests. They were set to head out early the next morning, and still did, uninterrupted. As you open your eyes you find yourself back in that dark, groggy, almost claustrophobic place. You are lying flat on your back, a strange experience for Hilda in particular, and find your breathing is shallow and quick, your heart fluttering rapidly in your chest. You have a horrible ache in your right side, from the shoulder on down, present ever since you took that terrible fall earlier. Or so a small voice in your head tells you. Clenched tightly to your chest is what feels like a book, directing your eyes down at it, you recognize the cover as vaguely familiar. While you can’t quite place your finger on it now, in this space, you know you’ve seen it before. You pull the book tighter to your chest, your knuckles visibly whitening against the leather binding, and whisper in little more than a breath, “Inanis.” They won’t find it here. The party awoke that morning to a handwritten letter in Nezari's handwriting. It read: “I apologize in advance, I did not realize that quite so many people were interested in your cargo. Time is of the essence, move with purpose, and remember to watch your backs. I’ll be in touch.” It was signed simply and almost clumsily as compared to the rest of the letter as, “N” Part 3 Unlike the other two incidences, the party members were all fully awake before this one. Gael, Hilda, and Kazuma, along with their relatively new party member, Luca, had just set out through a mysterious, underwater tunnel across Lake Rijha when the original 3 were struck into a trance-like state. Being on horseback, Gael and Kazuma were carried further down the passage, while Hilda simply collapsed in place. Luca, the only conscious one, was left to babysit for the next several minutes. You are dreaming again, day-dreaming this time, technically. The world is still foggy as it has been in most of your, “prophetic” visions, but it is brighter, and your brain finds the environment familiar enough to try and fill in some of the blanks. You are leaning against a damp, earthen wall, directly across from another long, darker path, listening intently though the silence is only broken by the occasional echo of water. As you stare down at the ground a small orange frog hops by in your peripherals. The soundscape changes and you stand up straighter in anticipation of the approaching footsteps. Soon you are able to see someone’s shape taking form, coming toward you and into the light. You can’t visualize their face, but something about the pendant they’re wearing is immediately familiar, as is the leatherbound tome that they have clutched tightly in one hand. In fact, you can’t seem to take your eyes off of it. “Well… Hand it over.” They say, holding out their other hand. Your vision immediately snaps up to where their face should be and after a brief hesitation, you bring your hand up and rip something from your own neck. You can see out of the corner of your eye that it is another pendant, very similar to the one they are wearing. You sway slightly, losing a little breath as you rip it from your neck, but recover quickly enough to catch the book when they chuck it unceremoniously in your direction. The party was almost immediately faced with the consequences of blacking out in an underwater tunnel upon awakening and are, for the time being, separated.